Operation Orange or A Taste of Orange
by MadMadamMim
Summary: Why is Harry suddenly displaying strange behaviour around objects of a certain colour? H/G Please R/R!


A/N: Please don't copy, please don't sue me, I don't have anything you  
would want anyway. =-P I hope you like my (first) fic. Please r/r!  
  
Disclaimer: Don't you guys get sick of these things? Anyway, the  
characters, the settings and pretty much everything else are somebody  
else's, except for the (extra-fluffy) plot, which is mine. It's all  
belongs to the lovely and talented JKR, who is wonderful to let us  
play with her characters. I'm not making any money out of this (I  
wish! hehe), so please don't sue me (see above - I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING  
YOU WOULD WANT).  
On with the fic!  
  
Operation Orange or A Taste of Orange  
(which do you like better?)  
  
Not again. Surely not. Couldn't the girl let him have just one full night of sleep?  
  
Knowing he wouldn't get back to sleep, Harry heaved himself out of bed, groaning slightly, and fumbled for his glasses.  
  
Ten minutes later he was out on the Quidditch pitch, alone with his Firebolt. He watched the sunrise as he hovered near the goalposts, seeing the clouds change colour through all the shades of purple to pink. As the clouds turned orange, he found himself forced to perform a pair of flawless Wronski feints to let off steam. God. He couldn't even see Ron's orange Canons posters without his thoughts turning to a certain vivacious red-(or should he say orange-)head.  
  
With a sigh Harry landed and went inside for breakfast.  
  
.- ~*~ -.  
  
Ginny indulged in a wicked grin as she saw Harry enter the Great Hall. She'd show him she wasn't that blushing little girl that fled around corners at the sight of him anymore. She'd show him what it was like to go to pieces. That's it, she thought, I'll make him go to pieces.  
  
.- ~*~ -.  
  
"Hey Harry! Good flying this morning?"  
  
Oh no. Ginny. He was just getting settled. Why did she have to come over now? I won't show I'm anything but vaguely happy to see her. Ron's little sister. Think Ron's little sister.  
  
"Fine thanks-gorgeous sunrise-all gold and-uh-orange-" Ginny raised an eyebrow. Harry didn't think he'd said anything funny. Had he?  
  
"That's good. Gotta go-Hermione promised she'd help me with Muggle Studies. See you later." She left in a swirl of copper hair, leaving Harry feeling distinctly foolish.  
  
.- ~*~ -.  
  
"Due to the position of Venus and its relationship to that of the constellation Orion, I will be swarmed by a cloud of orange butterflies sometime during the next week. Once they have smothered me unconscious, a hoard of orangutans will transport me to the Crevasse of Egnaro, where I will be cast down into the fabled river of pumpkin juice. Here I will drown, pulled down by spiteful orange-backed pixies."  
  
"What do you think? Gruesome enough?"  
  
"I think someone has orange on the brain. You do know that orange-backed pixies are extinct, don't you?"  
  
"Thanks, Hermione. That's so helpful. Blue-backed pixies? OK, there. That better?"  
  
Hermione cast a critical eye over the blotched Divination paper.  
  
"Yep, that's good. Just use that charm I taught you to erase all those blots."  
  
"Thanks Hermione. I really don't think I could stand any more revision for Trelawney."  
  
"No problem, Harry. Just try to expand your palate of colours. Even Trelawney might figure something out."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Hmm? Oh, nothing." Hermione turned up an innocent face betrayed only by the faintly sparkling mischievous brown eyes.  
  
Harry shrugged. "'Night then."  
  
"G'night Harry."  
  
As he reached his dorm door, Harry had the distinct impression that the sudden eruption of giggles from the common room might just belong to the youngest Weasley and her friend, the smartest witch at Hogwarts. He smiled thoughtfully to himself.  
  
.- ~*~ -.  
  
And so it went on for weeks. Harry's teacup turned into an orange rat, his potions turned orange for no apparent reason, and he continued to die gruesome orange deaths in Divination. Ron snickered when he discovered that all Harry's notes were colour coded in very similar and indeterminate shades of orange, while the twins noticed with no little amusement that Harry nibbled away at his Every Flavour beans until only the orange ones were left at the bottom of the bag. Ginny found great amusement in bringing "orange" up in conversation to see Harry stutter and squirm and took great delight in wearing Ron's orange Canons socks whenever she thought Harry had a good chance of noticing. She began to plot her final move.  
  
.- ~*~ -.  
  
"Harry-can I talk to you for a sec?"  
  
Harry glanced up at Ginny. He could see Ron and Hermione suppressing what looked suspiciously like sniggers behind Ginny's back. Ginny was wearing an orange halter-top and orange leather pants.  
  
"Uh-sure." Harry followed Ginny into an empty Charms classroom and leaned against the desk. Ginny walked the length of the room in her orange platforms before turning to face Harry.  
  
"Harry?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Can you look at me, not at my chest, please?"  
  
"No problem, as long as you keep your eyes off my crotch." Harry replied calmly, something akin to a devilish grin creeping over his face.  
  
Whoa. Where did that come from? She liked him like this-audacious.  
  
"About time, Mr. Potter."  
  
"Sorry?"  
  
"For you to notice me, you clod. I figured maybe if I played to your-uh- orange fascination-perhaps you'd notice."  
  
"Oh I did. I've also noticed a few things I reckon you didn't want me to. Did you know, for instance, that when you're plotting some new move to "unsettle" me your eyes glaze over and you stick your little finger in the corner of your mouth?"  
  
"Harry Potter! That is not funny-" Ginny burst out before realizing that Harry's shoulders were shaking with silent mirth.  
  
"You knew! You little bastard!"  
  
"Now, now, Miss Weasley. You had your game, and I had mine. That's only fair."  
  
"Was it all just show? Didn't it work at all?"  
  
"Oh, yes, it worked for the first week or so-until I figured out your little scheme and decided that Witch Weekly's Most Eligible Bachelor in Britain wasn't going to fall for that sort of thing. Then I had my own fun. You didn't really think I'd get that obsessed over a colour, did you?"  
  
"Well, you know.I had sort of hoped maybe it meant something to you." Ginny mumbled, slumping against the desk and looking down at the floor.  
  
"Oh, but it did. You tried to torture and embarrass me, Miss Weasley, and that's not something I let any girl get away with. I think you're going to have to be very, very nice to me." Harry's voice trailed off as he bent down to envelop her in his arms and softly kiss her. He briefly pulled away, chuckling-  
  
"You even taste of orange." But Ginny swallowed his laughter as she drew him deeper into their kiss.  
  
~The End~  
  
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed that. I just had to write that 'cuz I'm so tired of all the stories where Harry is a total klutz about everything concerning girls. Should I keep writing? Or should I throw my quill in the garbage and consign my parchment to the fate every Divination assignment deserves? Let me know! Review! (Please? Like I said, this is my first fic, so I'm a little insecure.. lol)  
  
Oh, and does anyone know what I have to do to get my para indents to work? Thanks =-) 


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